Hello Sunshine! - 10 Outdoor Wedding Decor Ideas

With the sun shining and Summer officially here we are dreaming of the perfect Summer soiree. If your lucky enough to be getting married in the few days of balmy Summer we enjoy or planning a wedding in warmer climates, today's post is a must read! We have selected 10 outdoor wedding decor ideas to transform your back garden or outdoor event into a decor delight, from simple DIY mason jar candles to eye-popping balloons and yes, lots of craft ideas too! Let's head into the great outdoors...

Alternative Seating

Having an outdoor wedding means you have lots of choices for seating. From glamorous seating areas, hay bales or sweetly decorated swings it's easy to make the space your own with some selected pieces. Charity shops are filled with mix matched furniture and ask family and friends what they have hidden away. For hay bales you might be in luck with your venue having some, otherwise it's off to a local farm to collect some, to create an alternative seating area. Tina and Dave used Tina's resources to create a fun seating area at their marquee wedding, check it out here.

Ceremony Backdrops

If you're having an out-door wedding there are some simple ways to make the space more personal. There are some gorgeous ideas above, a beautiful drape of fabric over tree branches, upcycled wooden doors and a simple tree trunk arch with an incredible flower garland. For more ceremony backdrops that work both indoor and outdoor have a look at our Ceremony Backdrop Ideas post here.

Paper Decor

A simple and cheap way to decorate an outdoor space is with paper crafts. It's cost effective and with a little help from friends and family it's an achievable DIY. Shamilla and Koen used hanging origami cranes to personalise their outdoor ceremony. Other paper craft options included pom poms, they look super cute and impressive but are actually quite easy to assemble, Aoife and Mark decorated their barn with the beauties.

To find out how to make simple origami cranes pop over to Camille Styles where you can find an easy to follow tutorial.

For the cutest paper craft around (and a favourite of brides) a pom pom diy isn't hard to find, one of the best is over at Boho Weddings, check out the tutorial here!

Flower Garlands

What better way to decorate your outdoor ceremony than with beautiful blooms. Flower garlands can be used in many ways from simple decoration along fencing, table centre pieces and flower arches. Ruairi and Louise used simple and elegant garlands to decorate their ceremony chairs at their Tankerstown Wedding last year.

Hanging Decor

One of the best things about being outdoors is the natural beauty that will act as your decor. Having trees is a plus if you want to add a little something extra as they give you a structure to hang from. From glass bottles with florals, crafty hanging frames and books. If you are undertaking a project that involves hanging items like this, make sure you have strong rope and a helper to secure the items to the branches, you don't want things falling down half way through the day!

Lighting

Lighting is key to set the scene for a wedding day, while this can easily be achieved indoors, you have a little less control outdoors. Depending on day light saving and the time of year you are getting married you could have natural light up untill 10pm, but it will get dark so you need to be prepared.

Festoon lighting is a brilliant way to light up a space. The lights themselves look industrial and exposed, come up with a format to arrange them and get people involved to help you. Working with your venue is key to figure out electrics and safety.

Candles are a simple way to light up a space and they create a romantic atmosphere, you can place them in jars, lanterns and candle sticks and dot them around or use them on your tables as an added decoration.

Mason Jars

The much loved mason jar is here to stay. TheY can quite literally be used for anything, floral displays, candle holders, cutlery dispenser you name it, start collecting early on in your planning so that you will have plenty on the day for all your crafty needs.

Top tip: unfortunately the jars we buy have labels with The strongest glue (of all time), to get the labels and glue off, steep the jars in warm water with washing-up liquid over night and use a scrubber to get the remains off in the morning!

Wedding Signage

We love a good wedding sign at One Fab Day. From chalkboards to simple craft paper scrolls you don't have to spend a fortune to have a sign that you love!

Balloons

Balloons keep popping (tee-hee excuse the pun!) everywhere. If you love the look of the larger ones, keep in mind that they generally cost a lot more. Online stores Hari Ali and Molls Parlour stock them (and they are pretty epic!) Helium is a must to get the height you want, at the moment it is in small supply due to an international shortage so investigate what you can get before you buy the balloons.

For a little less complicated balloon decor, buy one or two colours of the balloons we all know and love and keep the display small, you can add ribbon or pretty string to add to the effect.

Streamers

This may be my favourite outdoor (or indoor) decoration. Streamers are so simple and very chic to put together and they can be applied to many different elements. From hanging displays, ceremony backdrops, chair decor and lots more.